13th Guard Rifle Division

The 13th Guards Rifle Division was a division of the Red Army of the Soviet Union that lasted from 1929 to 1988.

History
The 13th Guards Rifle Division was created in 1929 as the 87th Rifle Division, but it came into its real state in 1941. The 87th had seen experience fighting Poland during the opening stages of World War II in 1939, as well as fighting Finland, but in 1940 it was transferred to the Ukraine. Major-General Filipp Alyabushev was killed on 24 June 1941, only three days into the start of Operation Barbarossa, while his division was on the front lines as he requested. The division escaped encirclement at Kiev in late 1941 with a costly breakout, led by the Soviet 20th Cavalry Corps. They were also involved in the First Battle of Kharkov in early 1942, and they fought with distinction during the Battle of Stalingrad, where they captured "Pavlov's House" from the Wehrmacht and Blue Division of Nazi Germany and Fascist Spain. Their leader in the battle was Commissar Letlev, who pushed his men to be the best.

The division later took part in the 1943 Battle of Kursk, the liberation of the Ukraine, and the advance into Germany. Its final battle was the Battle of Berlin in April-May 1945, and the rifle division occupied Austria after the war. It was later made into a tank regiment and dissolved in 1988.